Issue Information

Make New Member Policy more visible when joining

Posted by
Black Six
on Nov 13 2012 - 11:51 AM

I have noticed it happens at least once a week that a New Member posts more than once in a row because they are confused by their post not appearing straight away. Is there any way of having the New Member Policy more visible to new members when joining or posting?

Isn't there some sort of box where it's like "do you agree to the rules of BZP" or something? There usually is something like that for most forums. We -could- put it there, but then again...who reads those things, right? =P

Hmm. Okay, so for this forum that I made a long time ago, when you first click "become a member" a box appears with text under which you have to say "I agree" (instead of going straight to the sign-up form like BZP does). Because no one likes to read a wall of text before joining anything (terms of service, etc.), perhaps we could just put a single line -- "You must adhere to the BZPower Rules." (with a link) and then something like "Once your account is approved by an Administrator, you will be placed in the New Member's Group" (link). Or even once registration is complete, there could be some sort of notice like "thanks for registering, your account must now be approved, once it is you'll be a new member"?

I mean, there's still a good chance that no one will read it, but at least it's there, and without a turn-off wall of text. And maybe have a link/message about the NM Policy in the confirmation email, too. Other than that, I'm not really sure...for Guests maybe you could have some sort of notification on the top of the main forum page saying "Read the New Member Policy" or something? I dunno.

Edit: Okay, so after I posted using the Full Reply mode, it lowered the severity level -- but when I posted in the other issue by fast reply, it didn't.

Isn't there some sort of box where it's like "do you agree to the rules of BZP" or something? There usually is something like that for most forums. We -could- put it there, but then again...who reads those things, right? =P

It's been a while since I joined, so I don't know what it does. Once we get around to this issue I'd have to do some tests.

So I looked into this. There are settings for the Forum Rules and Guidelines to display while registering. New users have to check a box stating, "I've read and agree to the Terms of Use". 'Terms of Use' is a link with some general statements about the site and a link to the Forum Rules and Guidelines. It makes no mention of the New Member Policy there, though it could be added.

If we added it, do we think new members even bother reading the TOU? Should we look into making the TOU or some other text more apparent on registration?

I found a quick add-on that puts a banner on the top of the forums for 24 hours after a member registers. I have customized the text to point them to the rules and highlight the New Member Policy. I think that should be sufficient to let people know about the policy.